Carolla's 'Hammer' Hits Lots of Laughs

by Andrew Jupin

There is a lot to be said about seeing the “Underdog Story” on film. Mainly that it’s been done to death. Why do we see it so many times? Well because people love to root for the underdog. We love knowing that there is always a chance for the little guy to rise up and take it all. We’ve seen it in Rudy, we’ve seen it in Rocky and yes, we’ve even seen it in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. That one even has ‘underdog’ in the title. Well thankfully, Adam Carolla has decided to keep the underdog spirit alive with his new film, The Hammer.

Carolla stars as Jerry Ferro, a down-and-out construction worker (and one time amateur boxer) who finds himself out of work on his fortieth birthday. On top of getting fired, his girlfriend, Nicole (Constance Zimmer), is fed up with his string of employment failures and she also decides to give their relationship the ole’ pink slip. Left with no one but his best friend, Oswaldo (Oswaldo Castillo), Jerry starts picking up a few shifts a week teaching a boxing class at his friend’s gym. Eventually his own skills get noticed by Coach Bell (Tom Quinn), a legendary boxing trainer, who offers Jerry a shot at competing on the Olympic Boxing team.

The story pretty much plays out the way you’d expect the classic underdog story to go: Jerry gets good at boxing again; he meets a younger, stronger competitor that he’ll inevitably have to battle in the end; he gets the girl through one means or another, and yes, everything works out in the end. However, I think the thing that sets aside The Hammer from other underdog comedies—like Dodgeball for example—is that there is a certain sincerity to Carolla’s character that is really appealing.

Through all the challenges that lay in his way, he’s still always looking out for Oswaldo—a Nicaraguan immigrant—by making sure he can always have some sort of odd job around. Before Jerry makes most of his career decisions, he first makes sure that he’ll be able to take Oswaldo along so he can pick up some extra money. His relationship that blossoms with one of his boxing students, Lindsay (Heather Juergensen), also feels very sweet and real. When she reveals she has a chance to take a job in another city far away (of course) Carolla’s performance is very believable when he has to seem legitimately hurt and disappointed. What Jerry does to try and make her stay is also very noble and believable.

There is never a moment when the film resorts to ridiculous tactics to win a laugh; no one mocks any major religion—Mike Meyers—and no one relieves themselves in their pants—thank you very much, the Sex and the City movie. All the laughs are very natural and nothing is over the top. Carolla pulls off this performance with flying colors and proves that he can take on more leading man material.

Unfortunately the film only received a brief run in New York in March and a small post-release ‘premiere’ at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. Not even the insistence of The Soup’s Joel McHale could raise a buzz about the film. However hopefully with this new DVD release from Weinstein Company and Genius Products will do something to gather some fans. The disc itself comes along with some extras including the usual outtakes and deleted scenes and trailer. But there is also a great commentary featuring Carolla and writer/co-producer, Kevin Hench. There is even an amusing feature where you can hear Carolla coaching actor Oswaldo Castillo on toning down his thick accent. This isn’t a disc to pick up for the features, but I strongly urge everyone to get out there and pick up this disc for the feature itself. It’s a great, small movie that is really funny and that I honestly think deserves a large, dedicated following. I guess you could say the film is a real ‘knock-out.’

I’m sorry. I apologize for that. I couldn’t stop myself.

The Hammer is out on DVD tomorrow, June 24^th.